Calm Photos

I’m on a blog-entry roll. That’s probably because I’ve had a backlog of notes, observations and images that have been stuck in my mind, waiting for an opportunity and time to let them loose into cyberspace. The following should do be good for a while, or at least a day or two.

It was an “ah-ha” moment. One of those times when you come across something, either written or spoken, that makes you stop, take notice and suddenly undertand things with a bit more clarity, wisdom and understanding.

It happened on a Sunday morning, about three or four weeks ago. I was on a photo trip up at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, near Cleveland and Akron. I was staying at The Inn at Brandywine Falls, waiting for the breakfast bell to ring (no, seriously and literally). In the front sitting room of the house were a couple of coffee tables full of interesting reading material, most of which had to do with traveling and the Cuyahoga Valley. I picked-up a magazine titled “Long Weekends.” I was somewhat familiar with the publication. It’s printed out of Cleveland by Great Lakes Publishing Company, a good customer of mine that also produces “Ohio Magazine” and lots of local visitors guides for the larger cities in Ohio.

In this issue of “Long Weekends” was an article about a unique animal park in Indiana known as Wolf Park. At this facility they raise and keep captive at least a couple packs of wolves. People can come and interact with these animals and learn all about the fascinating behavior of wolves. And these animals really are fascinating. Beautiful, too. I had an opportunity to photograph several wolves up close at the Triple D Wild Game Farm near Kalispell, Montana back in August 2000. I’ve included one of my images from that shoot with this post.

The article went on to describe some of the basics of wolf behavior, most of which I was already familiar with, such as the role of the Alpha male and the pecking order that these animals establish within their own social and family structure, a.k.a the pack.

What struck me as most interesting about the article (now here comes that “ah-ha” moment) was when the writer provided this little tid-bit of info:  “Chetan is the pack’s omega, the lowest ranking male. The omega is the pack’s scapegoat - a necessary cruelty in order to diffuse the pack’s aggression, maintain order and harmony and ensure the pack’s survival. He will usually be the last to eat and may even sleep away from the rest of the pack.”

Now how is that an “ah-ha” moment ? Because dear blog reader, the omega male is not only a necessary cruelty amongst wild carnivores that live in packs, but a behavior which I KNOW is often exhibited by various groups of people who never succeed to raise above basic animal instincts and/or operate within organizations (and/or families) where “survival of the fittest” is rule #1.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at just about any corporate office environment. Have we really come far, or not far enough?

Sometimes the pack gets stupid or has so much built-up aggression and guilt that a call goes out for a blood sacrifice of the omega male. And sometimes the omega male barely escapes with his life, and from that experience he simply chooses to not be a wolf.

A few years back I came across another interesting article that talked about wolves. It was in an issue of National Geographic, however, the topic of the article was about a mentoring program for underprivileged youths in Brooklyn. One of the mentors (who I think was an attorney in Manhattan) had this to say about the 10-year-old boy whom he was mentoring (and this isn’t an exact quote but it comes close): “I’ve found that people basically fall into two difference categories. You’ve got your majority who are the sheep. They just go along with the crowd and live day by day. The rest are your basic wolves that prey upon the sheep. But I know there’s a third, much smaller group that very few people seem to notice. This group goes beyond and raises above. They’re the eagles. Juan is an eagle.”